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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi women defy insurgents, taboos, to join Army |
| 2005-07-25 |
| USA today is on a roll! EFL When Sondos' sister was murdered by insurgents for working with the Iraqi army, the 30-year-old exacted her revenge: She signed up for the military. Sondos is part of a class of 29 female recruits who recently completed the Iraqi army basic training course at Camp Justice in Baghdad, home to the Iraqi army's 1st Brigade, 6th Division. Although female soldiers have previously completed the two-week course and joined the army, Saturday's graduating group was the first all-female class of recruits trained by female trainers on an Iraqi-run base. Smaller groups of women have trained in Jordan and held military police jobs. "The Iraqi army is actively recruiting women," said Lt. Col. Fred Wellman, spokesman for Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in charge of equipping and training Iraqi security forces. "They need them. There are certain jobs absolutely necessary to women." The Khawla Bint al-Azwar Class — named after a female warrior in the time of the prophet Mohammed who disguised herself as a man to fight in Muslim wars — will join 120 other female soldiers attached to different units at the 1st Brigade. They represent a small step toward the future look of the Iraqi army, says Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf, commander of the 1st Brigade and top commander of Iraqi troops in Baghdad. The women will take on a number of roles, including administrative, medical and public affairs duties, he says. They'll also go on combat missions, particularly cordon-and-searches, where they'll search females in suspected insurgents' homes. And they'll interrogate and look after female suspects in the brigade detainee facility. They earn the same starting salaries as male soldiers, about $330 a month. "This is the reality: We need female soldiers," Khalaf says. "If I have a female prisoner, what do I do? If I have to search a female and can't do it with a male, it'll be a catastrophe...If I had the power of hiring, I'd have a female battalion." "I want to fight alongside the men," Sondos says. "I want to fight against the terrorists who are taking over my country." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 We should recruit Saudi women to help. Give them guns and driving lessons. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-07-25 22:10 |
| #3 I think it will bug the hell out of the bad boyz to have active public recruitment of women. They should pitch things like: "If you join up today, we may even let you guard captured insurgents." Plenty of women would go for that. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-25 13:43 |
| #2 Thank heaven for little girls! |
| Posted by: Hyper 2005-07-25 12:36 |
| #1 What's the world coming to? It's enough to drive an islamowackjob nuts. |
| Posted by: Michael 2005-07-25 10:52 |